Ms Leadsom's public admission she has suffered sexual harassment follows previous reports she had privately complained to Number 10 about a remark made to her by ex-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon, when she first became an MP.

Ms Leadsom was said to have alleged Sir Michael made a crude remark to her when she said she had cold hands.

He allegedly replied: "I know where you can put them to warm them up."

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Sir Michael, who resigned his Cabinet role last year and admitted his past behaviour may have "fallen short", has strongly denied the incident took place - and Ms Leadsom has not commented.

The revelation that Ms Leadsom has suffered harassment first hand came as the former Tory leadership contender said she was determined to change the culture in Parliament.

She told Sky News she had decided to offer anonymity to both complainants and those accused under new rules in order to encourage, rather than discourage, potential victims to come forward.

"The evidence that we took was that the biggest problem for complainants who did not like to come forward, was because they are afraid about what might happen if their name gets into the media," she said.

"I have had people coming forward in the course of this work that they have had the most horrendous experience because their name got out in the media.